Vintage Sub 16808 bracelet help

[fatchance]

Hello crew,
I recently inherited a circa 1987 16808 Submariner from my step-father. I took it to a local vintage watch shop to have a link removed from the bracelet and I was told there that the bracelet had permanent or semi-permanent pins in it instead of screws and that it would need to be sent to a watchmaker to have the pin(s) removed in order to remove a link. I'm interested to know if this is correct for this era bracelet or is it abnormal? The pictures represent both sides of the same end of the bracelet.
Thanks.